Steelpad 4S Review

reviewed by Falcon

Thanks to Danny from SoftTrading for providing the Steelpad for evaluation.

Specifications:

• Length 290 mm - Width 257 mm
• 2mm thick
• Treated for comfort and traction
• Hardened for durability
• Fibre Polished

First Impressions:

These days, high quality mouse pads are fairly common as gamers seek to gain a competitive edge past what a top end CPU and graphics card can provide. Today I will be looking at the next step in the evolution of professional gaming mousepads – the Steelpad 4S

With the pad at the top end of the market price wise, I opened the package with high expectations and was not disappointed. The design of the mousepad is elegant, and the quality of the manufacturing is evident. The shape is perfect, the pad is 100% flat, and there is no sign of warping. The Steelpad logo is laser etched into the corner and is sure to draw attention.

Contrary to its name, the Steelpad is actually made from aluminium. Being only 2mm thick, it is reasonably lightweight and rests just above the desk. The edges are not rounded, and I was initially worried that they might have been a little bit sharp. However, since the pad sits so flat against the table surface I didn’t find any discomfort with it even with several hours’ continuous usage. Personally I also feel that it is generally more comfortable to have a mouse pad sitting as low as possible.

Features:

Previous versions of the mousepad came with small feet, attached to the base of the mousepad. This version however, came packaged with a 1mm thick rubber/plastic material, which is the same shape but slightly smaller and contacts with almost the entire surface area of the mouse pad. No matter how reckless you may get in an intense firefight, the mouse pad isn’t going anywhere unless you specifically lift it up from below – it gives the mousepad an almost unmovable grip on the table.

Also included with the package is a 10cm strip of “padsurfers” which are Teflon based strips. These are placed on the mouse feet and are designed to improve slickness. Not only do these decrease friction when moving the mouse, they also reduce the noise that arises from using a metallic pad.

One benefit about the Steelpad over all its plastic competitors is its longevity. A lot of competing plastic based products have minute bumps all over the surface, along with some sort of coating for extra slickness. While this method provides smooth motion initially, the friction against the surface inevitably wears down the coating and plastic to the stage where the friction actually increases and can hinder the mouse movement. A while ago I reviewed a Ratpadz, which I was suitably impressed with. Originally I felt that it would last indefinitely, but over the span of around 18-24 months the surface wore out forcing me to purchase a replacement (A friend of mine was more creative and turned his 180 degrees around).

It is pretty safe to say that a metallic surface will probably outlast any other part of your computer system.

Onto the testing and conclusion: